A battle between car manufacturers and telecoms operators is heating up as the European Commission prepares to announce legislation later this year that could determine whether automakers will need to rely on Wifi or wireless 5G technology to build internet-connected vehicles.

Lawmakers agreed to cap the price of phone calls and SMS messages between EU countries and sealed a deal to encourage investment in fast internet networks during a late-night meeting on Wednesday (6 June).

The European Parliament is holding its ground on its controversial proposal to lower the costs of international phone calls within the EU, one week before a make-or-break round of negotiations on a sweeping telecoms bill.

European telecoms regulators are investigating whether app stores restrict internet access by limiting their users’ choice of content, the chair of the umbrella group of EU watchdogs said on Wednesday (14 March).

The European Commission has proposed new criteria to guide investment in telecoms networks, in a twist that is likely to stir disagreement as EU negotiators try to strike compromise over a draft telecoms bill.

Much of the Brussels policy crowd visiting this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona headed home early to monitor, lobby or take part in another round of tense negotiations over a draft EU telecoms law that is taking place on Wednesday and Thursday (28 February-1March).

A lot of the debate around net neutrality comes from misinformation but "this baseless fearmongering will simply lose credibility" once it becomes clear that the internet economy has continued to thrive, US telecoms regulator Ajit Pai told EURACTIV on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Sparks flew at a public discussion over net neutrality at one of the world’s biggest tech conferences on Monday (27 February), as EU tech chief Andrus Ansip defended the bloc’s two-year-old legislation while sharing a stage with the American regulator who just repealed a similar US law.

Eight German conservative MEPs have written to Chancellor Angela Merkel to complain about a controversial telecoms investment plan, which crept into coalition talks this week between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.

A proposal from the Trump administration to build public-funded 5G networks will “end in disaster”, the EU’s top telecoms regulator has warned, urging Europe to speed up plans for its own fast internet networks.

The European Commission has set a tough goal for 2018 of wrapping up legal negotiations on all 25 of the digital single market proposals that it announced since 2015. It will be an uphill battle: there are 13 files still open and fights are simmering over several contentious issues.

Telecoms ministers from EU countries agreed on a plan to set up fast 5G internet networks by 2025, five years after the European Commission's original proposal, and snubbed a proposal to reform rules for selling off radio spectrum.

Different political groups need to accept the European Parliament’s agreement on the draft ePrivacy regulation, even though conservative and centre-right MEPs opposed the bill, Birgit Sippel said in an interview with EURACTIV.com.

MEPs in the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) approved stricter new privacy rules for telecoms services and apps like WhatsApp and Skype that divided political groups and drew backlash from the telecoms and tech industries.

MEPs in the European Parliament’s Industry Committee (ITRE) approved a sweeping telecoms bill on Monday (2 October) that watered down an EU proposal to spur network investment and added a controversial price cap on calls between member states.

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